Al Roker on Dan Patrick: ‘He had a huge melon, literally’

AUSTIN — The man on the phone needed no introduction, both because we had scheduled the interview time and because of who he was, but he offered one anyway: “Hi, this is Al Roker with The Today Show.”

I had found myself talking with television’s most famous weatherman last Wednesday as part of a quest to learn as much as I could about Dan Patrick, the frontrunner to be the next lieutenant governor of Texas. In particular, I wanted to know more about Patrick’s life before he moved to Houston in 1979, at age 29, a part of his life that had not been covered as extensively in the many profiles that have been written about the state senator and tea party champion.

And Roker, I had heard, had briefly worked with Patrick in the late 1970s at WTTG-TV, a station in Washington, D.C.

My 15 minutes with Roker were some of the most entertaining of my reporting on Patrick, although not the most illuminating.

The conversation ultimately did not make it into my 2,000-word profile, which ran in Saturday’s Houston Chronicle.

The story did include an interview with Elden Hale, who talked about hiring a man then named Danny Scott Goeb to do sports for a TV station in Scranton, Pa., suggesting that he change his name to Dan Patrick and years later reconnecting with the man and voting for him for lieutenant governor.

Roker, on the other hand, remembered little about his former coworker. His biggest memory: “He had a very big head….He had a huge melon, literally — and people who have big heads kinda do well in television.”

Did Patrick do well?

Yes, Roker said. The pair only worked together for a year, between 1978 and 1979, before they both moved on, he said. In that time, both men “probably thought we were better than we were,” Roker said, but Patrick earned praise for his gregarious nature and attention to detail.

“Dan was the number two guy, and he killed our weekday sports guy,” Roker said, before delving into humor. “Just killed him — with his bare hands, just to watch him die. It wasn’t pretty. Just went in and choked him out. But it’s OK, nobody really liked the guy.”

Was Patrick’s move into politics expected?

Patrick was not political during the time they worked together, Roker said. But he said he was not surprised by the move because of Patrick’s outgoing style and good looks.

“He was a handsome man with a big head – literally, a huge melon – and a great, great head of hair,” Roker said. “And I think that qualifies anybody to be lieutenant governor.”